Flying back to North Northumberland from Washington DC recently, I started to feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

There’s no place like home looped through my thoughts until that first Morpeth sign appeared.

Sharing a room with President Trump

I always knew that if I became an MP, I would put my constituency first. But what I did not know was that I would become Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, an international role that puts me in the same room as President Trump on occasion.

These are not easy spaces to be in for politicians on the left. But they do give me a unique point of comparison.  Something that is fractured at a global level is still alive and well in North Northumberland. While the ‘might is right’ plays out on the international stage, locally I am refreshed by continued evidence of fraternity, solidarity, and responsibility to each other.

North Northumberland – home of amazing people and values

A day of visits illuminated all three. I met with ‘Dinz’ Dinsley, founder and MD of 3S Northumbria, who employs a team of ten at his space start-up; specialising in space tracking and recycling satellites to reduce environmental impact.

Then it was off to Gallery Youth Project to speak with manager Ian McRae about their work to help young people feel valued and included. Like many projects they are surviving month to month and have funding challenges to contend with, but I was really moved by their efforts to challenge rural isolation.

Next up was a tour of Rock Estate to see the various ways they are supporting the community with farming, houses for local people, employment, a café, storage and business facilities.

Lastly, I got to pull a pint with the crew at The Fleece, in Alnwick, run by Bobby and Charlotte Chapman, who have transformed a failing venture into an old-fashioned family pub with their loyal, local, year-round staff.  

When ‘we’ became ‘me’

Not to say we haven’t got serious issues to tackle. Labour is making progress with the NHS, SEND education and cleaning up our waterways, but it’s going to take time to sort out the deep, systemic problems that began decades ago, when the ‘we’ of our communities became the ‘me’ of individualism.

Yet every day in North Northumberland, I can see it; the common good which gives us the courage and energy to try again and again to find answers shielded from greed, hatred and division.

There’s so much we have not yet lost.